Welcome to the Great Wall of Vaginas

An English artist horrified at the growing popularity of va-jay-jay cosmetic surgery has created a gigantic ode to the beauty and wonder that is the female genitalia.

The Great Wall of Vaginas contains 400 castings of real vaginas and took artist Jamie McCartney over five years to create. The women involved range in age from 18 to 76 and are predominately from the Brighton area of the UK. The mammoth work is broken up into 10 panels each consisting 40 vulvas.

McCartney's work was a reaction to the growing trend of women cosmetically altering their vulvas and reflects a recent study showing 61 percent of women have concerns about the appearance of their genitalia.

McCartney says, "The reason I cast all these vulvas is I came to realize women have anxiety about their genitals in the same way men do. I could relate to that as a man. I came to realize that labiaplasty is the fastest growing cosmetic surgery. So the idea that women are cutting off parts of their genitals to conform to some notion of a popular aesthetic… is repulsive. How did we get here? Why are women cutting off parts of their genitals?" McCartney says his aim was to show "what normal women look like" down there. He hopes the artwork changes female body perception.

McCartney made a conscious effort to remove "any porn elements" from the individual sculptures. He says the "sheer number" takes away the focus from any individual vagina. He also chose to make the sculpture white, voiding the vaginas of any color. Lastly he arranged them in geometrical way to give them an architectural, organized feel.

McCartney believes "its art with a social conscious." He adds, "For me it's sculpture and it's a beautiful work. It's an amazing thing to look at."